This past Sun., Jul. 7, fans of HBO’s “True Blood” were shocked when Joe Manganiello’s character, werewolf Alcide, was abruptly killed off. The character has been featured on the show since season 3 and been a regular on the program up until the current, and final season, 7.
Fans were pleased that the werewolf hunk was finally with half-fairy Sookie Stackhouse, like he had seemingly wanted to be, regardless of the fact that she killed his prior fiance. Alcide has had a major role in the plot as a romantic figure for protagonist Sookie.
The 37-year-old actor opened up about the sudden death of his character. Manganiello talked to Entertainment Weekly about his death before it aired, saying, “I don’t know how to make it more suspenseful than that. I get shot in the head by this random character whose name I don’t even know and die naked in the woods.”
When asked if this was the death that he had envisioned for Alcide, Manganiello responded, “I’m glad it wasn’t a vampire, ’cause I think that might have been emasculating. He hates vampires so much, then he gets taken out by one of them? Is it better to get taken out by a nameless hillbilly? I don’t know. [Laughs] I don’t know what to say.”
Manganiello also discussed why the death of his character was necessary, “What are you gonna do with Alcide if he’s with Sookie? We’re gonna have a nice wedding and take off for Bermuda, then move away from town and stay there and have babies?That’s not the show. The fairy has to be with the vampire, so you gotta get the werewolf outta the way. You can’t have her break Alcide’s heart, because then people won’t like Sookie—they’ll get mad at her for breaking the good guy’s heart. So it’s the only choice you have, really—you gotta kill him.”
Sookie was asked upon Alcide’s death if she wanted the vampires to turn him. She denied this offer. Manganiello seemed to agree with this decision, stating, when asked about the possibility, “Alcide would probably shoot himself in the head if he came back as a vampire. Vampires and werewolves hate each other, so for him to lose his werewolf powers and come back as a vampire … I think she did the right thing.”
The actor did seem to ultimately be satisfied with this decision, realizing its necessity to the show. He indicated this acceptance saying, “You can’t not finish the story between her and Bill; you can’t not have her settle the score with Eric. It’s vital to the show to go down that road.” Adding, “And with this show, you want to shock people and show them that anyone could go at any moment.”
Finally, about his upcoming work Manganiello revealed, “Well, I’m about to film a new movie in August that I’m really excited about, I just shot that movie with Jason Sudeikis that’ll hit the festival circuit at some point this year and I’ve got Magic Mike 2 in the fall. I missed my opportunity on several movies while I was on the show, which were brought my way because of the show. But they were straight offers that I couldn’t do because I couldn’t get three overlapping days off from shooting. And then I had to go to the theater and watch someone else play it. … So right now, the focus is on film, but that’s not to say that if the right thing came up with the right people, I wouldn’t want to be a part of it.”
